Roses in the Abyss
by Robespierre-vs.-Napoleon
Summary: Enjolras dumps Éponine with no knowledge that she is pregnant, then literally disappears. The baby is born with a serious heart defect, but survives the surgery. Éponine is unable to afford the medical bills, so now she must track down Enjolras.. But how easy is it to find one person in the city that never sleeps? (Modern A/U)
1. Chapter 1

_**CREDITS GO TO: idreamadreamtoo, who gave me the idea for this story. This is also the fic I'm writing for my account's second birthday. Rated T for mild swearing.**_

_**As for the others who suggested ideas, yours were really good and it was tough to choose.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Les Miserables. If I did…..well, this story is rated T, so I can't tell you.**_

…

* * *

Éponine smiled, rubbing her stomach slightly and reveling in the feeling of the hard little bump under her hand. She probed it with her fingers, gently tracing swirling patterns over it, but she dared not to press too hard. It was a miracle. Her miracle. His miracle. _Their _miracle. Perfect. She couldn't wait to tell him about it. Their miracle. Their angel. Their baby, innocent and pure, was most certainly NOT a mistake, thank you very much. Well, technically, it was a mistake….that is, the baby wasn't planned, but still a blessing nonetheless. Éponine was grateful to whatever force moved her life that she'd been so blessed.

"Today….is going to be the best day ever," she whispered to herself, poking softly at the bump and grinning at it, her deep brown eyes sparkling with happiness. "Don't you think so, mon ange?" In theory, talking to something that couldn't talk back to her would have looked a little bit on the other side of the crazy tracks to most folks. But Éponine didn't care. She had never, ever gone with the norms of society, therefore, in her own words, "I don't care, I don't give a damn, so you can go screw yourself if you think otherwise."

Now, she was just waiting for Enjolras to get back to their apartment.

She wiped over the table one last time with a Clorox lemon-scented wiper, cringing at the strong, noticeably fake smell of it. She adjusted the new cheap red tablecloth that she'd gotten at the grocery store on sale. Red was Enjolras' favorite color, and the same could be said for Éponine-she liked to think that it would be their baby's favorite color, but-God protect her-it would NOT be the color of her baby's hair if she had anything to say about it. Her child would not be the demon spawn of Satan. But really, she didn't want it to have anything that could ever remind her of her own parents. Her child would have a much better life than she had had herself, of course.

"Baby Bean, your daddy loves you. He's a little grumpy sometimes, but he loves you. I do too," she cooed. "You're going to be so pretty, just like your daddy." It was a tangible thought. She could practically see the image of a golden little tot who had its father's hair, face, eyes….pretty much a clone copy of him.

Éponine put the single red rose that she'd bought-another of Enjolras' favorites-into the slender white vase that had part of the side chipped out. The vase had gotten chipped at a party where almost all of their friends had been drunk and a little rowdy. Ah, memories, sweet memories. Too bad that everything would be different with the baby. No rowdy partying, not for a while at least. Baby Bean would come first.

The door slammed open, and Éponine turned to face a stony-faced Enjolras, who set down his student knapsack on the ground with such force that most of his books were strewn over the entryway. He went right past her without saying a word and sat down at the table, running his long fingers through his sun-kissed hair. She frowned and bent over to pick up one of his books which had landed under a dusty table. Éponine grabbed it and wiped off the worn cover of the Political Science textbook with the edge of her shirt. "Enjolras, you need to be more careful." No reply, only a quiet boyfriend who stared at his feet. "Enj? What's the matter?"

"Éponine...we need to talk."

"Alright." She sat down on the chair opposite Enjolras. "So, what do we need to talk about?"

"It's...um...I think that we should..." Enjolras seemed like he was trying to say something, yet he couldn't as he was trying to place what he had to say delicately. "I...I think that we should break up."

Éponine was stunned. "Enj, this isn't funny."

"Éponine, I'm not joking," Enjolras replied. "I just think that we need to see other people."

"You can't be serious," Éponine sputtered. "After all we've been through...now you want to...break up?"

"Please don't make this harder than it needs to be," Enjolras said gravely. "I'm moving out. I'll leave you some money, you know, to keep you on your feet for a while. I already have my bags packed."

At this point, tears were covering Éponine's face. "No..."

"This is just the way it needs to be," Enjolras grimaces, packed bags in his hands.

She shook her head. "No, I'm gone. Goodbye."

And with that, she stormed out of the apartment, leaving everything behind.

"Baby Bean, what have I done?"

* * *

For the remaining months of her pregnancy, Éponine did odd jobs around the city temporarily, just enough to support herself and buy some things for the baby. She lived in a dingy little apartment in the Bronx that cost very little, just enough left over for baby items and food.

Enjolras had completely disappeared off the face of the earth. If any of the Amis knew where he was, Éponine wouldn't know. She'd cut off contact with them after the breakup. How desperately she wanted to be able to tell him about their baby.

At the end of her pregnancy, Éponine went into labor and gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Kendall. It was contemporary, modern, and something that Enjolras would have agreed on. Everything felt perfect for about two hours after Kendall was born.

* * *

"Ms. Thénardier, I hate to inform you, but your daughter was born with a serious issue," the doctor told Éponine, who gripped the armrest of the bed tighter.

"What's wrong with my baby?" she demanded.

"I'm afraid that she has a Ventricular Septal Defect."

"Kindly explain."

"Ventricular Septal Defects are basically holes in the inner walls of the heart between the ventricles, the bottom part of the heart. Your baby needs to be operated on immediately."

"Just save Kendall. Save my baby. I don't care what you have to do, just save my baby."


	2. Chapter 2

**_I know that this took a while to update, but I was having computer troubles and was unable to log into my computer. Turns out that I accidentally took the instructor's computer after a History Camp session, and it was protected by some password. I was like, "OH NO, ALL OF MY FANFICTION FILES WERE SAVED ON THAT LAPTOP! WHAT WILL I DO?!" But then, I found out what had happened, and all of my precious works of fanfiction were back in my fanart-drawing hands. So, here it is! In advance, I'm going to apologize for the shortness of this chapter._**

* * *

Baby Kendall survived the operation to strengthen the tissue around the ventricular hole. The hole closed within a few days of the surgery. Kendall rested in the NICU with many tubes hooked up to her tiny body, completely unaware of her condition, and that only made Kendall's mother cry with a renewed flow of tears every time. Éponine was all too aware of her daughter's condition that had almost ended her life. When she went for a checkup with the cardiologist two weeks after Kendall was born, however, Éponine found herself in a bit of a sticky situation.

"So, how is the hole in Kendall's heart healing?" Éponine asked Dr. Mercer.

Dr. Mercer rifled through some papers in a large file and pulled one out that had 'KENDALL KATHERINE ENJOLRAS' emblazoned in brand-new black ink across the top. "Well, the tissue has developed nicely, and the cavity is completely closed up now."

Éponine let out a sigh of relief. "Good. I was so worried."

"Now, Ms. Thénardier, may I have the name of the insurance company so that we can send them the bill for the surgery?" the man across the disheveled wooden desk asked her as he used his pointer finger to push his wire-rim glasses back up to the bridge of his nose.

"I...Insurance company?" Éponine asked shakily.

"Yes dear. Do you have Geico, Obamacare, State Farm, or something else?"

Éponine had forgotten about insurance. She had shared it with Enjolras, and it was filed under his name, which would make it inaccessible to her. Damn. Maybe they'd give it free to a penniless single mother?

"My...my ex-boyfriend and I had the insurance together. It's filed under his name. The certificate has his signature on it. I don't have access to it," Éponine sighed, defeated. She could only stare at her shoes as her heart dropped to her shoes as she realized something. She didn't have enough money to pay for the surgery. "I don't have enough money to pay for the surgery."

Dr. Mercer frowned. "The surgery costs $24,601."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Éponine murmured under her breath. Then, quieter, "Damn it. What am I going to do?"

"We do have a payment plan for situations such as the one you are in, one that we created when payment failures became an increasing problem," Dr. Mercer informed her. "The hospital will give you two months to find payment for the surgery, or otherwise, we will have a little issue, and we'll have to call the police. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish filing some papers.

* * *

Éponine walked into the NICU room where she could hold her baby. The young nurse laid a sleeping, pink-wrapped baby Kendall in Éponine's waiting arms, then quietly exited the room so that Kendall and her mother could be alone for a while. Éponine smiled. Being near her baby was a comforting feeling. Kendall also looked like her father, but with her mother's hair, and being near Enjolras had been a soothing thing when they were still together and her whole world was still perfect.

"Oh, Kendall," Éponine whispered, running the pad of her thumb lightly over Kendall's miniscule hands, "what will I do now?" Kendall gurgled in response as the soothing sound of her mother's heartbeat and words woke her up.

She continued, "I have a few options. One; I can take out a loan from the bank. What do you think, Kendall?" Quiet. "You're right, I'd have to pay it back eventually. I'll barely be able to support you and I, much less pay back a hefty loan."

"Option two is that I could go pickpocketing." Kendall only gently rolled around. "Yeah, either way, I'd end up in jail."

"I could also go the Amis for help," Éponine spoke. "I know for a fact that if they knew that you are Enjolras' daughter and that he skipped out on us, that they'd help us. That's just how they are." Nothing again from Kendall. "Well, okay, I'll admit it: that probably wouldn't work. I doubt that all of them would have that much cash out of the blue. But there is ONE person I know who would...however, he probably wouldn't want to help me."

Kendall turned her face up to her mother and opened her eyes for what could have been the first time. The sight only made Éponine cry, because it was almost like she was looking straight into the face of Enjolras, complete with his electric-shock, icy blue eyes. It only made what Éponine knew that she had to do harder for her. Kendall's expression was one that her father would make; determined, exact, almost as if she were saying with her face, "You know what you have to do, mommy."

"I know, Kendall," Éponine cried. "I have to find daddy. I have to find Enjolras."

* * *

After she had put her baby back and gone back to her dingy little apartment, she whipped out the old, torn, tattered phonebook that she'd found in a garbage can outside of an upscale apartment complex in Queens.

"Eaks, Earl, Ealy, Eckhart, Ellerbeck, Enis, Enjolras! Here it is!" she shouted triumphantly as she spotted her ex-boyfriend's last name. It was a lucky find, but it was doubtful that Enjolras even lived in the city anymore. She assumed that he had moved out after the break-up. Either way, Éponine had no way of knowing where he was, where he lived, or any otherwise information. Her eyes scanned the list until her chocolate-brown eyes rested on a name in bold letters. Julien Enjolras, her ex-boyfriend's name. Under the name was an address.

"2267 Rosehill Drive, New York City, New York, 11472."


	3. Chapter 3

_**OKAY!**_

_**Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, follows, and views in general! I could never have imagined that this would have happened to a story of mine.**_

_**UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE LOST INTEREST IN THIS STORY!**_

_**Yes, I just said it.**_

_**I literally have no freaking idea how to play out the rest of this story. I mean, I have an idea with what to do, but…..I have another idea for a whole new story. That's just who I am: I write a few chapters for a story, I lose interest in some. Now Billy Mayes will help us real quick….**_

_**BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!**_

_**Thank you Billy. I don't want this story to have to end, so, I'm giving it to somebody else to write! **_

_**You do, of course, have to ask first. And, you have to give me credit. If you don't, I'll report you. After all, if I copied YOUR story and didn't give you credit, you wouldn't like it, would you? **_

_**Just PM me, and I'll respond back. I have a few people in mind who I'd like to continue, but I'll wait and see if they ask first. If I accept you, I'll give you a few ideas that I had for the rest of the story.**_

_**Thanks again for reading this story!**_

…_**..**_

_**LOTS OF LOVE,**_

_**VICTOIRE JAVERT**_


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